Freitag, April 24, 2009

Due to his advanced age, this German count remembers very well (actually, again because of his many years, perhaps not all that well) the success of the famous novel “Michel Strogoff“ written by the French writer Herr Jules Verne some centuries ago.

As every longhaired youngster knows, aristocrats prefer to spend their idle time in trifling matters, so this Herr Von acted consistently and avoided the great effort of reading the book and instead waited for some highly reputable and skilled film director to properly adapt that novel about the courier of the Czar for the silent screen.

And that important silent film adaptation of Herr Verne’s “Michel Strogoff” came in the silent year of 1926 thanks to Herr Viktor Tourjansky, who surrounded by a crew of mostly Russian émigrés like himself, made an excellent French-German silent film production. This was a perfect match, that is to say: a Russian crew for a book set in old Russia for a French silent film production of a famous French novel ( obviously the German presence gave weight to the production ).

The film is a lavish big budgeted production, appropriate for such a vigorous novel. The magnificent décors are by Herr Alexandre Lochakoff who with such a Russian name obviously knew very well what he was illustrating and there is also the splendid art direction by Herr Noé Bloch and the great Russian star Ivan Moskoujine as the title character. Some of the battle scenes are set in Latvia and were done with the help of the Latvian army itself (with the permission of the Latvian Minister Of War, natürlich!) and there are also some coloured scenes included in the film that give to the oeuvre a special atmosphere of decadent antiquity, especially in the Russian court sequences.

The diversity of cast and crew suggests a Tower of Babel but the mixture of the different elements gives charm and effectiveness to the oeuvre that during it’s almost three hours running time maintains the rhythm and interest in what is a splendid classic adventure, very well structured and entertaining.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count is waiting for aristocratic Herr Postman.

Such socially enlightening films, together with others, are big surprises in early film treasures that any longhaired youngster can view in the "World Digital Library", a superb idea that will be displayed the 21st April in the UNESCO at Paris, in order to spread different treasures stored in many libraries around the world

Samstag, April 18, 2009

It is well-known that Red Army soldiers revolt at the first chance and with any excuse ( rotten food, for example… ) initiating those revolutions Russia likes so much. Keeping this historical background in mind, it is unusual to find those same Red Army soldiers going to an amusement park or enjoying themselves in, MEIN GOTT!!!.. Russian nightclubs and in the company of unknown girls. This is conduct unbecoming for proper U.S.S.R. soldiers that, of course, will have problematic consequences when one of those soldiers doesn’t get back to his ship, the “Aurora”. He is instead seduced by the mysteries of the Russian night and is drawn into a gangster band.

“Chyortovo Koleso” (1926) was directed by the prestigious Bolshevist pair Herr Grigori Kozintsev and Herr Leonid Trauberg, or perhaps one should say, a famous trio because this was the first film in which Herr Andrei Moskvin collaborated with his cinematography with the pair mentioned before. This proved to be a long film collaboration that extended in time even to the talkie period and was an excellent artistic combination that resulted in wonderful –though sometimes strange-silent films like this oeuvre.

The film has that fast paced editing so characteristic of the Russian films of that period, astounding especially in the night sequences which include a frantic rollercoaster scene, not to mention those camera tricks that are always part of the development of film narrative. Particularly striking to this German count is the careful description of the slums characters and the peculiar night fauna but there is still the occasional nod to social issues.

But besides those well-known or classic film technical characteristics of those famous 20’s U.S.S.R. films, this time this work shows some inspiration from films from the West, particularly in the underground atmosphere and the night scenes. Although scenes set in slums weren’t unknown in Russian films, this time the picture is influenced by Amerikan and German movies ( USA 20’s social films and German Expressionism ) and with little political propaganda. This makes the film a hybrid, a mix of innovative Russian film techniques with Western classic film narratives. This results in a very interesting and accomplished experiment typical of Herr Kozintsev and Herr Trauberg .

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must get back to his yacht in order to avoid an aristocratic court-martial.

Donnerstag, April 16, 2009

Due to the fact that German aristocrats don't know how to use the new technologies, it is out of the question to upload moving images to Herr Graf's silent diary ( how can anything-images included -be loaded without the help of a bunch of servants?? )…In spite of this and thanks to a tip from Herr Urbanora's modern diary, this Herr Von wants to redirect longhaired youngsters to "Vimeo" in order to watch in there a delicious interview with the learned and English silent film historian, Herr Kevin Brownlow. There you will be delighted to listen to Herr Brownlow’s primal and exciting personal experiences with silent films as well as his wise thoughts about the silent and modern eras. An absolutely aristocratic pleasure, indeed!".

Samstag, April 11, 2009

At the beginning of the last century, Herr Sigmund Freud was a notorious Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who was famous for his innovative studies of mental diseases and the complicated unconscious mind. This led him to found psychoanalysis and write “Die Traumdeutung” ( The Interpretation Of Dreams ) a turning point in modern psychiatry that claimed the path to the unconscious could be found in dreams.Since aristocrats usually have nothing in their minds, psychoanalysis could do little to fill such a void but was very useful for average people whose more accessible simple minds made them good subjects for these innovative psychiatric methods.

“Geheimnisse Einer Seele” ( Secrets Of A Soul ) (1926) , directed by Herr G. W. Pabst, an Austrian like Herr Freud, is about this new psychoanalysis, a subject in fashion in Germany due to the complex and confused Teutonic minds, that Herr Pabst efficiently and aseptically describes in this film.

The film is famous for its notorious dream sequence in which a chemistry professor’s unconscious fears come to the surface and threatens his marriage. It is all connected to an incident in the neighbourhood and the return of his wife’s cousin from India.

The first half of the film shows the tranquil and bourgeois life of the professor together with his wife and the (at first) unimportant events that little by little will affect the professor’s unconscious and will take shape in a traumatic dream.This is the most unique and interesting part of the film, the late Expressionist dream sequence, a nightmare, a nonsense puzzle that during the second half of the film will be analyzed and described with the help of a psychoanalyst, natürlich!.

Herr Pabst, due to his Teutonic and organized human nature, describes and solves every little detail shown during the powerful dream sequence with the knowledgeable help of the psychiatrist of the film; a coherent, logical and aseptic analysis that lacks emotion and rhythm so there is no room for mystery. The story also has a conservative and too conventional happy ending that throws the film a bit off balance and is too predictable given the odd subject matter.

That’s what happens when you are an open-minded and common person, your innermost secrets are easily revealed, so unlike the wicked, empty and inscrutable aristocratic minds.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must wake up.

Freitag, April 10, 2009

Easter seems like an appropriate time to do some proselytizing on behalf of German silent music. Any longhaired youngster with silent interests and German language knowledge can read in this German newspaper about an event on March 31 in a Freiburg cinema where the great Teutonic music composer Herr Günter Buchwald conducted an orchestra that played the original "Metropolis" score written by composer Gottfried Huppertz back in the 20's.The article praises this performance very highly and says that one really needs more events like this one.

By the way, what are you waiting for, illiterate and dangerous longhaired youngsters around the world?... It’s time to learn elegant languages such as German.

Samstag, April 04, 2009

In the silent year of 1925, Herr Fred Niblo directed Herr Novarro in “Ben-Hur”, a colossal silent film production that made its way into film history for its magnificence and grandiloquence, but just one year before, both director and actor worked together in a modest, small silent film production as magnificent in its way as “Ben-Hur”; you only have to change ancient Rome for Paris and you have “The Red Lily”.

“The Red Lily” is a superb silent film that must be recovered from oblivion for the joy of silent fan crowds around the world ( nowadays a more easy task since the longhaired people at “Warner” decided to open up their archive vaults ). The film is a small piece that highlights the virtues of silent cinema in which the complications of human nature play the lead in the film. It’s a beautiful and sorrowful love story that defies destiny and moves the audience in an irresistible way.

The love story between the Major’s son Jean ( Herr Ramon Novarro ) and the cobbler’s daughter Marise ( Dame Enid Bennett ) will have to overcome difficult and terrible circumstances. As a German saying says “when you think that things are bad, they get worse” and that it is what happens during the whole film until a happy ending will finally bring the couple together.Set in French Brittany, social prejudices and an unjust robbery accusation will send Jean and Marise to Paris, a big city where the love of our sweethearts will suffer a terrible turning point in their lives.

Herr Niblo’s superb film direction shows the fragility, uncertainty and changeability of the inner human sentiments of our heroes; they will suffer despair and hate, helplessness together in squalid conditions and, worst of all, broken dreams. Jean and Marise suffer their special “Way of the Cross” depicted on the screen by Herr Niblo with a deep, painful sorrow. It’s a private tragedy full of deception that rules the lives of our heroes in which it seems that destiny is continuously sneering at them.

Astounding and remarkable is the performance of Dame Bennett in her role of Marise, one of those classical heroines of silent films; her transformation from a mild peasant to a prostitute is brilliant, an excellent example of the greatness of silent pictures and superior actresses, in which a look, a timid gesture, a cry for help, can still move longhaired audiences to trembling even today.

The film is perfectly set in different surroundings; from the Brittany provincialism and their peculiar peasants and prejudices to the Paris slums full of decadent and distinctive characters. Besides exceptional art direction you also have the great cinematography of Herr Victor Milner; it’s luminous and hopeful in Brittany and gloomy in the breathless and eternal Paris night, until the finale when the sun will shine again in the broken lives of Jean and Marise.

“The Red Lily” is a beautiful film pregnant with infinite sadness about the fragility of love and life, redemption and forgiveness; a touching film story, a hidden and wonderful silent piece.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must give a bouquet of stinging nettles to a Teutonic rich heiress.